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Japan Wins World Baseball Classic

Japan celebrated their team's win over Team Korea in the tenth inning of the World Baseball Classic in Los Angeles.Credit
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

LOS ANGELES — To Japan and South Korea, the final of the World Baseball Classic was more than the final game of a 16-team tournament. It was the chance, the prized chance, to subdue a despised rival and be called the best team in the world. It was an opportunity for one proud country to incense another.

With a pulsating 5-3 win over South Korea in 10 innings Monday night, the Japanese won their second straight Classic and remained atop the international baseball world. Until the next tournament, in 2013, the Japanese can boast about being superior to the South Koreans and any country where players pick up bats and baseballs.

Ichiro Suzuki lined a two-out, two-strike single to center field off Chang Yong Lim to drive in two runs in the 10th and ignite a celebration from Dodger Stadium to Tokyo. But Suzuki did not immediately celebrate. After he scooted to second on the throw home, he showed no emotion. He calmly lifted his hand to call a timeout.

“I believe that Ichiro’s hit is something I’ll never forget,” said Tatsunori Hara, the Japanese manager. “It’s an image that will forever be imprinted in my mind.”

The Japanese were one out from winning in the ninth, but Yu Darvish, a starter who was asked to close, could not stifle South Korea. Darvish walked two batters to put himself in a dicey position, then Bum Ho Lee lashed a two-out single to left to make it 3-3.

But Suzuki, the player who was cheered more lustily than anyone else on a raucous night, powered his team and pleased a baseball-obsessed country. Darvish was given a second opportunity to silence the South Koreans in the 10th, and he produced a scoreless inning. Darvish ended the game with a strikeout and notched the win, but it was Suzuki who saved it. The South Koreans decided not to intentionally walk Suzuki, who batted with runners on second and third, and the decision doomed them.

In Sik Kim, the South Korean manager, said the team had signaled to Lim that he was supposed to pitch around Suzuki. If Suzuki did not bite at a bad pitch, Lim was supposed to walk him. But Lim apparently did not get those signs or did not obey them.

Suzuki diplomatically said that he was not surprised that the South Koreans pitched to him because walking him would have loaded the bases. But even Kim said that he regretted not walking Suzuki. During the memorable at bat, the usually focused Suzuki said his mind was cluttered.

“I really wish I could be in a state of Zen,” Suzuki said. “I kept thinking of all the things I shouldn’t think about. Usually, I cannot hit when I think of all those things. This time I got a hit. Maybe I surpassed myself.”

Eventually, Suzuki celebrated, too. After the final out, he pumped his fist as he jogged in from right field. He hugged the center fielder and the left fielder, then joined a mob of teammates behind the mound. A gigantic Japanese flag was laid behind third base as a tribute to the champions.

The all-Asian championship reiterated that the rest of the world plays excellent baseball, too, and was a credit to the two teams that play in a more disciplined way than the United States. Japan and South Korea feature pitchers who are not immune to throwing strikes and players who are smart and aggressive. Japan was a little smarter, a little more aggressive and a little better.

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“They try to play as sound, as errorless and as perfect, that word should be perfect, as perfect baseball as they can,” said Shane Victorino of the United States. “And that’s how you win ball games.”

For capturing the Classic, Japan received the $2.7 million winner’s share. Japan also earned a bonus of $400,000 for winning the second round. The South Koreans received the runner-up’s share of $1.7 million and $300,000 for winning the first round. It was the fifth time Japan and South Korea played in the last 17 days. Japan won three of those games, including the most crucial meeting.

The fans rooting for South Korea and those cheering Japan competed on every pitch, too, turning Dodger Stadium into an international shout-a-thon. The 54,846 fans chanted, banged ThunderStix and waved flags. Manny Ramírez could hit a winning homer in the playoffs and it probably would not be as boisterous here as it was for Japan against South Korea.

Hisashu Iwakuma, a lean right-hander with a nasty forkball, was mostly responsible for guiding Japan to a 3-2 lead as he held the South Koreans to two runs while pitching into the eighth. At 6 feet 3 inches and 169 pounds, Iwakuma looked as thin as a flag pole as he stood on the mound. To the South Koreans, Iwakuma resembled an impenetrable pitcher for most of Monday night.

Still, the game was tied, 1-1, until Japan went ahead in the seventh in a predictably simple fashion. Japan used a single, a stolen base, Suzuki’s bunt single and Hiroyuki Nakajima’s single to make it 2-1. Akinori Iwamura added a sacrifice fly in the eighth to give Japan a 3-1 lead.

The South Koreans nicked Iwakuma for a run in the eighth to chisel their deficit to 3-2. Iwakuma was 21-4 with a 1.87 earned run average for the Rakuten Eagles in Japan last season and won the equivalent of the Cy Young Award. He was in line for the win until Darvish failed to stop the South Koreans in the ninth.

Shin Soo Choo, who is the only major-leaguer on South Korea’s team, had homered off Iwakuma to tie the score in the fifth, 1-1. Choo reached down and drilled a pitch that was near his calves. But that was one of Iwakuma’s only blemishes on a superb night. Michihiro Ogasawara singled in Japan’s first run in the third.

The rivalry between Japan and South Korea extends a lot deeper than which team scores the most runs in a game. There is lingering friction between the countries because Japan invaded Korea and officially annexed it in 1910. The Japanese did not leave until after World War II ended in 1945.

Although Japan left more than six decades ago, there are still Koreans who remember those years or who have been told stories about the experience. The countries have a relationship, but it is more a grudging association than a friendly rapport.

Now the Japanese and the South Koreans will have to wait four years before they potentially meet in another Classic. The wait will undoubtedly feel much longer for the South Koreans. But the Japanese will savor every day between now and then because they can call themselves the best in the world. Suzuki made sure of that.